live from london. this is bbc news french president emmanuel macron meets with president xijinping in beijing france faces another day of pension protests after talks between unions and the government break down here in the uk: serving london metropolitan police officers are moved from tackling serious crime to investigating wrongdoing in the force. and the study of ancient norwegian ice suggests antarctica's glaciers could retreat faster than expected.

hello and welcome. president emmanuel macron of france has told xi jinping that he's counting on the chinese leader to bring russia to its senses over the war in ukraine. mr macron made the comments at the start of a meeting with mr xi in beijing. the french president is in china on a state visit. in his opening remarks, the chinese leader told his guest that the two countries could overcome their differences. but on the issue of the war, that will be difficult. france has aligned itself firmly behind ukraine. china has given support to moscow. earlier, the bbc�*s mariko oi explained what a good outcome might look like from the meetings. well, i think it's fair to say that there is a lot to discuss, as president macron has been facing those rather embarrassing pension protests back home so he wants to score some economic victories

and he wants to push for closer trade and investment ties, basically an accord which if ratified could boost investment ties there. and of course is travelling with a lot of business leaders so we could expect quite a number of business deals announced as well as for ursula von der leyen they want to persuade china to ask russia, use its influence over russia, to bring peace in ukraine and that is where it can get very tricky. it is a very tricky balancing act for president macron who is expected to president xi jinping shortly before the three of them hold a separate meeting later this evening. we are expecting a press conference later today so i think that's where we can find out exactly what they discussed. let's quickly take you to be shin, the great hall of the people, president macron and xi jinping are

due to meet shortly and give a press conference and potentially sign some kind of undertaking and agree some way forward between europe and china. joining me from the newsroom is our asia pacific editor, michael bristow. what have we been hearing coming out of the meetings? fix, what have we been hearing coming out of the meetings?— of the meetings? a meeting between president macron _ of the meetings? a meeting between president macron and _ of the meetings? a meeting between president macron and xi _ of the meetings? a meeting between president macron and xi jinping - of the meetings? a meeting between president macron and xi jinping has l president macron and xi jinping has just got under way in the last 30 minutes or so and some of the initial remarks journalists are usually allowed in at the beginning to hear initial invoice by both leaders and then they are ushered from the rim and the real negotiations begin but in the initial remarks we got a sense of the different approaches and different schedules and different desires by both leaders. president macron in his opening remarks spoke about trying to get bashan to use its influence in moscow to try and get russia to pull back in the boat in ukraine. it's a pivotal and a

major issue for france, for europe, the united states to try and end the war in ukraine. china is really the only country that can put pressure only country that can put pressure on moscow to do that so that's what president macron felt it was important to talk about in his initial opening remarks. for his part, xijinping talked about being able to overcome differences, but more of a vague and general comment but even there, see the differences between the countries because of course when it comes to the war in ukraine, china is linked closely towards moscow, it has aligned itself quite closely with moscow. france has got itself behind ukraine in support of its defensive territory there. so already, there are differences in approaches and intentions and differences in the outcomes they wish to see. [30 intentions and differences in the outcomes they wish to see. do we have any sense — outcomes they wish to see. do we have any sense of _ outcomes they wish to see. do we have any sense of whether- outcomes they wish to see. do we have any sense of whether there l outcomes they wish to see. do we i have any sense of whether there will be a formal announcement or document that the leaders are signing and

what that might be? we that the leaders are signing and what that might be?— that the leaders are signing and what that might be? we really have no idea at the _ what that might be? we really have no idea at the moment _ what that might be? we really have no idea at the moment what - what that might be? we really have no idea at the moment what that i no idea at the moment what that might be. when leaders gather together they like to meet in private and at the end, if they can sign some documents and have a press conference and talk about what they have discussed, that is the usual format but it is not entirely clear that anything of great substance will come out of that. earlier today president macron talked mostly about this being a chance to sort of reconnect with china after three years of the pandemic. and face—to—face meetings, really being stopped because of restrictions, particularly brought on by china so i do not really expect them to come out with any great statements or agreements but there will be a chance later when they meet the press perhaps to find out a little bit more about what has been said in private. bit more about what has been said in rivate. ., ., ., ~ ., bit more about what has been said in rivate. ., . . ~' . h, . private. you have talked about what our oints private. you have talked about what your points out _ private. you have talked about what your points out of _ private. you have talked about what your points out of this _ private. you have talked about what your points out of this for— private. you have talked about what your points out of this for china - private. you have talked about what your points out of this for china to l your points out of this for china to put pressure on particular in russia said he ukraine but what might china

be looking to get out of it?— be looking to get out of it? shame is focused on _ be looking to get out of it? shame is focused on its _ be looking to get out of it? shame is focused on its economy, - be looking to get out of it? shame is focused on its economy, i - be looking to get out of it? shame is focused on its economy, i spoke about three years of the pandemic and china essentially cut itself off from the rest of the world, closed its borders, within china itself there work lock downs, mass testing, really onerous restrictions placed on people there and that has really affected the me and the economy is the way the communist party in china gains its legitimacy in the eyes of the people so this year the chinese leadership are focusing on the economy. they want foreign companies to restart investing and their investment in china and they want more foreign countries to buy more chinese goods, that will be the focus for xi jinping chinese goods, that will be the focus for xijinping undoubtedly. focus for xi jinping undoubtedly. not focus for xijinping undoubtedly. not any issue on ukraine or other issues such as human rights. michael, thank you forjoining us. we will follow this story throughout the day so it stayed with us here on

bbc news. and beijing is also playing centre stage for another diplomatic milestone. the foreign ministers of iran and saudi arabia met in the chinese capital earlier. it's the first formal meeting of top diplomats from both countries in more than seven years and builds on a deal brokered by china last month. both countries say they'll look at ways to expand co—operation which includes arrangements to reopen embassies and consulates and resume flights and visas for citizens. demonstrations have been taking place in france today over controversial pension reforms. yesterday, talks between the french prime minister and unions resulted in deadlock. these are live pictures in marseille in the south of france at the moment. nationwide protests against the pension bill are now into a second week. the french government has decided to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. some analysts believe the backlash is the most difficult political challenge emmanuel macron has faced

as french president. and he's currently out of the country in china. after yesterday's talks broke down, the unions placed the blame squarely at the door of the government. translation: we came | to demand the withdrawal of the pension reform on behalf of the millions of employees that have been mobilised for more than three months. the prime minister refused outright and chose to send us back into the streets. we chose to end this pointless meeting. 0ur paris correspondent hugh schofield has more on what to expect today. demonstrations once again over the country, lots of different towns and cities. in addition there are strikes and blockages outside sort of strategic economic sites like depots and so on. i think to say straightaway that the level of

involvement seems to be a bit less, for example, the paris transport system, the metro and someone is running pretty much normally. the number of teachers on strike has gone down. so we will need to see what the numbers are like this afternoon but there is beginning to take hold, a feeling i think that maybe this campaign, this movement has crested. the inevitability of the reform going through seems to be becoming more and more apparent. and maybe, maybe, that's acting as a kind of disincentive for people to turn out. we'll be just weariness with this long campaign. it doesn't mean people are any less angry about the change, at least the majority of the change, at least the majority of the protesters but it does not maybe signify they can see they are losing this battle. this signify they can see they are losing this battle. �* , , ., ., this battle. as you mentioned momentum — this battle. as you mentioned momentum slightly _ this battle. as you mentioned momentum slightly slowing i this battle. as you mentioned - momentum slightly slowing down but equally the government is not backing down and the union said they will not back down. it feels like a case of who is going to blink first?

yes, as we've said from the start, thatis yes, as we've said from the start, that is what both sides have said from start and they keep saying it. what is different is that the law is almost low and when the law is almost low and when the law is almost low and when the law is almost low and when the law becomes law, the question arises what is the point of going on protesting about it? and i think that is the sad predicament for the protesters, is the prospect of quite soon, the low being promulgated and coming into effect and therefore, it becoming clear to potential protesters that there is actually no point in going on losing money because they do when they go on strike and staging these days of protests which are becoming interminable and very exhausting for people. in a way that is what president macron of course is banking on. i think maybe it's calculation is correct. that's not to say he will be any more popular for it but it may mean he in a sense wins this tactical ground by seeking

the law through and the kind of lassitude taking over the protest movement. has lassitude taking over the protest movement-— movement. as we have heard, president _ movement. as we have heard, president macron _ movement. as we have heard, president macron is _ movement. as we have heard, president macron is not - movement. as we have heard, president macron is not in - movement. as we have heard, president macron is not in the | president macron is not in the country to deal with this occasion, what is the public reaction? it is nothin: , what is the public reaction? it is nothing, really, _ what is the public reaction? it 3 nothing, really, they do not expect the president to be always there on these affairs. the president is always able in france to rise above the dirty day to day stuff and it's quite normalfor the dirty day to day stuff and it's quite normal for him the dirty day to day stuff and it's quite normalfor him to project himself as an international statesman by travelling abroad and representing the country as the head of state and so one. what he's doing now, the system allows and encourages it, he delegates to the prime minister sought the prime minister is dealing with that at the moment. it's an unfair system and it means the president can dip in and dip out of domestic affairs but that is the way it is and it is the prime minister who if things go wrong, will bear the immediate brunt and lose herjob at we will have to wait

and see. we're not through this yet but as i say, i detect a sense that maybe this movement has crested. that was hugh schofield follows. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. # somewhere over the rainbow...# it's the day we've all been waiting for. pumpkin the disabled west highland terrier is making her debut as toto on the big stage. pumpkin's owner tammy was watching nervously behind—the—scenes. she was absolutely amazing. she made me cry! i'm just so, so proud of her, so happy, just very emotional, very teary. her onstage companion says she was a natural. she was absolutely loving the audience as well. i could see her looking out. she'sjust a natural.

no place like home. there's no place like home. it is like the real story, like having a little best friend there onstage with you. it doesn't make you feel alone, either, because obviously, i open the show on my own, but i don't really, because i have little pumpkin with me. you're live with bbc news. we've seen that president macron is away in china at the moment and he will be discussing the ukraine conflict whilst there. 0ur correspondent hugo bachega is kyiv. he says ukraine still doesn't view beijing as a possible peacemaker in the conflict. well, i don't think there's any expectation here that china could emerge as a trusted mediator in this conflict. remember that weeks ago, president xi was in moscow shaking hands with president putin. they were talking about

the no limits partnership between the two countries. russia... china has not condemned russia's invasion of ukraine, has not criticised president putin for his actions here. and he has actually put forward a peace proposal that has been dismissed by the ukrainians, by western countries, as being a plan that favours russia, in other words, consolidates russia's gains in this country. so... and on the other hand, there has been no dialogue between president zelensky and president xi since the beginning of this conflict. so i don't think there is any expectation, any kind of meaningful results could emerge after this trip by the french president. but i think he's trying perhaps to persuade china to put pressure on moscow to end the war here. i think the view is that china could be perhaps a game changer in this war because of its position as russia's key international ally in this war.

china has condemned a meeting between taiwan's president tsai ing—wen and the speaker of the us house of representatives kevin mccarthy in california. that took place in california. beijing said the us was breaching its commitments on taiwan. mr mccarthy stressed the need to speed up arms deliveries to taiwan. china — which considers taiwan part of its territory — accused the us of seeking taiwanese independence. beijing said the us was breaching its commitments on taiwan. following the meeting, taiwan's defence minister said a chinese aircraft carrier and three chinese warships had been detected 200 nautical miles off taiwan's east coast. here's kevin mccarthy responding to warnings from china of escalating tensions. well, my first message, there's no need for retaliation. but the one thing i would say to china too, at no time, i am the speaker of the house.

there is no place that china is going to tell me where i can go or who i can speak to, whether you be foe or whether you be friend. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent shaimaa khalil in tokyo who has been closely following events and i asked her what taiwan reacting. the warships in taiwan are closely monitoring the chinese aircraft carrier which has passed through taiwanese south—eastern waters. we understand radars and chinese warships are as close as 5—6 nautical miles and we understand from the taiwan defence ministry that the aircraft carrier has passed through a strait between taiwan and the philippines and went into south—eastern taiwanese waters. we heard from the time in his defence minister who said while the aircraft carrier is in training, the timing

of its presence in that area is quite sensitive and of course the timing is referring to is the meeting between the taiwanese president and the us house of representatives speaker kevin mccarthy in california, that was a stopover on her way back to taiwan after a visit to central america and even though washington maintains that visit was not official, it merely angered be showing. these are some of the remarks by the chinese foreign ministry. about the meeting and it urged the united states too and it urged the united states too and a stop upgrading substantive relations with taiwan, stock trading factors that could cause tensions in the taiwan strait, stop containing china by exploiting taiwan. it is a very different tone when you hear what was being said in california. kevin mccarthy said friendship between the taiwanese people and the american people is a very profound

importance, he reiterated the importance, he reiterated the importance of supplying taiwan with defensive weaponry. the taiwanese president said the democracy and peace that the self—governing island has been working very hard to build is under unprecedented pressure and challenges. so they are very interesting scenes, stark scenes because they are happening at the same time. you see the stone of friendship between taiwan and the united states, the tension and anger from beijing and tension in taiwanese waters, all the while president xijinping receiving his european leaders, the french leader in their shame. it is a fine balance they are all trying to maintain, and china seeing this as a matter of chinese internal politics and chinese internal politics and chinese sovereignty, the french making a point it is important to maintain ties with taiwan and all the while i thinkjapan and the

japanese leadership is watching this very closely because the last thing they want to see is this heightened tension in the taiwan strait. we can go right not to be showing, we can see the french president emerging. he has met with the chinese leader xi jinping. president macron has been there with the president of the european commission ursula von der leyen. france has been asking the chinese leader to bring russia to its senses over the war in ukraine and china and russia recently said their friendship has no limits. we are

expecting the meant to speak shortly and perhaps some kind of formal declaration. and we will keep following that story. here in the uk, the port of dover says ferry operators are trying to reduce the number of coaches that will be travelling to france on good friday in an attempt to avoid a repeat of heavy congestion seen on the weekend. the port says a temporary border control infrastructure will also be installed to help process coaches if needed. 0ur transport correspondent katy austin is at dover and has more now on those new plans. the port authorities say that they and everyone else involved here recognise that what happened last weekend was a horrible situation, particularly for school children and elderly people trying to set off on their trips.

some coach passengers said they were stuck for 12 hours before they could finally board their ferries. the reasons officials gave for that was a variety of things, including bad weather, more coaches than expected and the process of getting people through the border checks, because after brexit, passports have to be stamped and things take a little bit longer. so there has been a review of how to make things run more smoothly over the next few days. it is expected to be quite busy down here again as we come into easter weekend, and you might be able to see behind me there is quite a bit of traffic coming into the port, but it seems to be going fairly smoothly at the moment, and the port of dover says not as many coaches are expected to come through, about 30% fewer than last weekend. but to try and make sure we do not see those same kind of delays, they are trying to make sure and reduce the number of coaches travelling tomorrow, on good friday,

and spread out that travel either to other times of the day that are less busy or to today and saturday instead. that's one of the main measures being taken to try and prevent problems. there are a couple of other things as well, for example, the port says there will be a full contingent of french border police, despite the fact there are not as many coaches as last weekend, and there is a marquee being put up to provide extra space to process those coach passengers at the border. and another thing, the port is asking car drivers and coach drivers not to get here early because that will add to the congestion. so what we're seeing so far as things appear to be moving pretty smartly. we will see how that goes over the course of today. the port authorities say this is a method of tackling congestion, but what have passengers been saying? today, so far, we have not heard of any particular problems. last weekend we heard from a lot

of people who were extremely unhappy at the delays they faced and some coach operators as well. but at the moment things seem to be going fairly smoothly and the next couple of days are expected to be pretty busy, but perhaps not quite on the same level as last weekend. researchers studying how ice sheets melt say new findings suggest antarctica's glaciers could retreat 20 times faster than previously thought. the study looked at how ice melted in norway thousands of years ago and found it reduced by 600 metres a day. earlier i spoke to doctor christine batchelor from newcastle university in the uk who led the research and i asked her about the findings. we analysed sea floor ridges off offshore of norway to show the rate at which the ice sheet that used to exist during the last ice age retreated during the last deglaciation, which is a period of climate warming broadly comparable with what we have going on today. how is that relevant to the climate picture today? we also show the rates of ice

melting that we have going on at the moment are sufficient to cause a very rapid pulse of ice sheet retreat across some of the more vulnerable places in antarctica today, and these albeit short—lived but rapid pulses of retreat could reach rates of tens or even hundreds of metres per day. we are not talking aboutjust a few thousand years, we're talking about 20,000—year—old ice sheets. can you tell us more about how you did the research? we used data collected from sonar measurements from ships to build up high—resolution maps showing the shape and depth of the sea floor, and these allow us to look at landforms that were left behind from when there were large ice sheets that covered parts of north america, parts of europe during the last ice age, and the spacing of these ridges we found on the sea floor, these landforms, allow us to derive information about the rate at which the former ice sheet retreated.

we've already heard lots of warnings about melting ice caps. what does this new information do to those warnings? what new information does this give us and how do we have to change our lives? i think it really shows how nonlinear or pulsed the rates of ice sheet retreat can be, and of course the rate of ice sheet retreat translates to the rate of sea level rise. so this is the difference between getting a certain amount of sea level rise happening over ten years to over 100 years. the rate of sea—level rise is really important for helping us to plan defences such as those around the coast to deal with coastal flooding. what more research is still needed on the topic? i think our research highlights the role that the ice sheet bed plays in controlling or modulating the rate of retreat, so it really motivates further research about the subglacial environment beneath ice sheets so we can tease out how fast ice sheets might retreat in the future.

that was doctor christine batchelor but stick with us on bbc news. lots more to come. hello again. if you are out and about over the next few days and you have an allergy to tree pollen, across the southern half of england and all of wales, the levels are going to be high or on saturday, very high. today, a ridge of high pressure building in behind this weather front. the weather front has produced a fair bit of cloud and rain in the early part of the day. it is continuing to move into the north sea, clearing all but the north—east of scotland and shetland, and in shetland, it will also be windy. behind it, we have got sunshine, bright spells and showers. some of the showers will be heavy down the east coast, from lincolnshire down towards kent. of course, they are showers so we won't all see one but top temperatures today between 7—14. tonight, we hang onto some of these showers for a time and also the rain across shetland. look how the skies clear and in light winds, there will be one or two pockets of mist and fog forming. with low temperatures,

we will see some frost as well. —i for example in glasgow. but first thing tomorrow means we start with a fair bit of sunshine. most of us will hang on to a lot of sunshine through the day. a weather front close to this east coast is going to bring in more cloud and also it will be thick enough here and there for the odd spot of drizzle or indeed the odd shower. a little bit milder tomorrow. nine to about ia degrees being our top temperatures. as we head into the weekend, high pressure still clinging on. but this weather front coming in from the atlantic tries to make inroads into the west of northern ireland, bringing some patchy rain. but it fizzles. on sunday, this clutch of fronts makes more progress. on saturday, still with a weather front close to the east, there will be areas of cloud. it should break up more readily than friday, though, and we will have some sunshine but more cloud building in the west. here is our weather front,

introducing some light, patchy rain into the west of northern ireland through the afternoon. top temperatures up to about ia or 15 degrees. that weather front fizzles and on sunday again we will be chasing banks of cloud. there will be some sunshine around, but do you remember that clutch of weather fronts coming in from the atlantic? they are going to come in later in the day, bringing some rain probably by around lunchtime into northern ireland, with highs of up to 16 degrees. 0vernight and into easter monday, this weather front clears the east and then on easter monday, it is going to be showery.

live from london. this is bbc news. the husband of scotland's former first minister nicola sturgeon is released without charge while further investigations are done into the scottish national party's finances. serving london metropolitan police officers are moved from tackling serious crime to investigating wrongdoing in the force. french president emmanuel macron meets with president xijinping in beijing. and a pair of sneakers worn by michaeljordan is expected to break records at auction next week.